NASCAR President Steve Phelps says the organization is steering away from the "Let's go Brandon" chant and will pursue legal action against any entity using its trademark on merchandise that contains the slogan.
"We will pursue whoever (is using logos) and get that stuff," Phelps said on Friday, reports Deadline.
"That’s not OK. It’s not OK that you’re using our trademarks illegally, regardless of whether we agree with what the position is."
The phrase, used to ridicule or insult President Joe Biden, got its start at a NASCAR event when an NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast was interviewing driver Brandon Brown at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama last month.
The crowd near her started chanting "F*** Joe Biden," and she either misheard it or changed the topic, telling Brown the crowd was chanting "Let's Go Brandon" for him.
After that, Biden opponents nationally started saying "Let's go, Brandon" when they mean the obscenity about Biden, and Phelps said Friday it's an "unfortunate situation."
"I feel for Brandon, I feel for Kelli," Phelps said. "I think, unfortunately, it speaks to the state of where we are as a country. We do not want to associate ourselves with politics, the left or the right."
NASCAR, though, has associated itself with both sides of the fence in recent years. Former President Donald Trump was named the honorary starter for the 2020 Daytona 500, where fans overwhelmingly welcomed him.
Further, NASCAR drivers have been known to speak at some of Trump's rallies.
NASCAR last year started banning people from having Confederate flags, a frequent sight at its events and came under fire after insisting that a noose that had been found in driver Bubba Wallace's Talladega stall was a racial attack against him because he is NASCAR's only Black driver.
Federal authorities investigating the finding determined that the rope was a garage door loop and was not intended for Wallace, who had convinced NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its events just a few weeks earlier.
Phelps, though, said NASCAR respects the presidency.
"Do we like the fact that it kind of started with NASCAR and then is gaining ground out elsewhere? No, we’re not happy about that," he concluded.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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